How the Sequester’s Budget Cuts Hurt Us in Kansas

The budget cuts on March 1 help the rich at the expense of the middle class and those in need of vital services in Kansas: That’s most of us and our loved ones.

The Storandts

We all agree that the federal deficit needs to be cut.

• The question is how . . . and who will it hurt.

The Sequester -- the federal budget cuts that take effect March 1 absence action by Congress -- is an example of the super rich protecting their entitlements.

• At the expense of the middle class, children, seniors citizens, veterans, small businesses, the unemployed, and the poor.

Who will pay the price in Kansas?

• Not asking the super wealthy to pay a little bit more by closing loopholes (aka entitlements for the super rich), forces our children, seniors, troops, military families and the entire middle class to bear the burden.*

BUDGET CUT IMPACTS: KANSAS (in 2013 alone).

• Teachers and Schools. Kansas will lose about $5.5 million in funding for education including services for some 7000 fewer students.

• Education for Children with Disabilities

• Work-Study Jobs for College Students in Kansas.

• Head Start and Early Head Start services. Eliminated for approximately 500 children in Kansas.

• Protections for Clean Air and Clean Water. Kansas will lose about $1.8 million in funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as another $772,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.

• Military Readiness. Around 8000 civilian Dept. of Defense employees in Kansas would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $36.7 million in total.

• Army Base operation funding would be cut by about $78 million in Kansas.

• Air Force operations in Kansas would be cut by about $1 million.

• Law Enforcement and Public Safety Funds for Crime Prevention and Prosecution. Kansas will lose grants that support law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.

• Job search assistance to help those in Kansas find employment and training. In Kansas 11,130 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment in Kansas.

• Child Care. Up to 400 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care -- not only essential for their healthy development but also for working parents to hold down a job.

• Vaccines for Children. Reduced funding means some 1240 fewer children in Kansas will receive vaccines to protect from childhood.

During 2013, those cuts have to be achieved over only seven months instead of 12 -- which means effective reductions of about 9 % for nondefense programs and 13 % for defense programs.

Here's a sampling of what this means in terms of our safety and security here in Kansas.

• FBI & other law enforcement. A loss of more than 1000 Federal agents, significantly impacting the ability to combat violent crime, secure our borders, and protect national security.

• Customs and border patrol. Over 5000 border patrol agents and over 2750 CBP officers gone. Staffing reductions increase wait times at airports, weaken security between land ports of entry. Average wait times increase 30-50 % at major airports,

* There are various definitions of who is in the middle class, but generally are families earning an adjusted gross income under $200,000 and above $75,000. See, e.g., "Defining the Middle Class" (1-24-2008), FactCheck.org